It is true, we can. We can tell all the
person's thought, so far as his art and principal work are concerned.
Nearly all his life is displayed in the works he makes. We can tell
the nature of the man, the amount of study he has done, but best of
all we can tell his meaning. The face tells all its past history to
one who knows how to look.[25] His intentions are everywhere as plain
as can be in what he does.
Thus you see there is more in a person's work than what we see at the
first glance. There are reflections in it as plain as those in a
mountain lake. And as the mountain lake reflects only what is _above_
it, so the work of the musician, of the artist, of any one in fact,
reflects those thoughts which forever hover above the others. Thoughts
of good, thoughts of evil, thoughts of generosity, thoughts of selfish
vanity, these, _and every other kind_, are so strongly reflected in
the work we do that they are often more plainly seen than the work
itself. And with the works of a great artist before us we may find out
not only what he did and what he knew, but what he felt _and even what
he did not want to say_.
We now know what music-thinking is. Also, we see why the young
musician needs to learn to think music. Really, he is not a musician
until he can think correctly in tone. And further than this, when we
have some understanding of music-thought we not only think about what
we play and hear, but we begin to inquire what story it tells and what
meaning it should convey.
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